More on speculation

Economics professor Lutz Killian, University of Michigan, has a research paper titled "The Role of Speculation in Oil Markets: What Have We Learned So Far?" co-authored with Bassam Fattouh and Lavan Mahadeva, here's the abstract (emphasis added):  

Today, we are fortunate to have Luciana Juvenal and Ivan Petrella, as guest contributors. In this post, they respond to Wednesday's guest contribution by Lutz Kilian, entitled Oil Price Spike Exacerbated by Wall Street Speculation?. Disentangling the main drivers of oil prices is a critical first step for allocating resources and designing good policy.

University of Chicago Professor John Cochrane (hat tip: Capital Spectator) has an interesting analysis of the causes of the financial problems of the last few years. Cochrane writes: